Even as Telangana plans voting experiments with blockchain and facial recognition, the Bihar State Election Commission (SEC) has implemented AI-based analytics for the ongoing elections in the state. According to a Mint report, the SEC has deployed an Optical Character Recognition-based (OCR) AI software to count votes during the 11-stage panchayat elections there. As per Staqu Technologies, whose JARVIS software is being used for the elections, the AI software has a 99.7% accuracy rate. OCR refers to technology that can recognise text or characters to digitise or digitally analyse them. The Bihar SEC has also implemented fingerprint-based voter recognition, according to the report. Earlier, it was reported that India's Election Commission was experimenting with biometric-based authentication by linking Aadhaar with voter-IDs to allow for remote voting. The proposal was criticised by various privacy experts raising concerns that it could lead to voter profiling and disenfranchisement due to frauds in the Aadhaar database. How does JARVIS work? According to the report: CCTVs will be pointed at the screens of the Electronic Voting Machines The AI analytics system will use OCR to identify the candidates and count votes This data will then be stored on the SEC's servers and cross-checked with the SEC's own data In case of any mismatch, it will raise an alarm MediaNama has written to Staqu to gain more information about persons with access to the video footage, trials undertaken, and plans of expansion. We will update the report once a response is received. From AI to blockchain: Tech interventions…
